Inside Voices

Inside Voices

This is a collection of essays, four of which are comprised (with permission from the correspondents) of personal communications with inmates serving life sentences in Arkansas.

This book developed from personal correspondence with four inmates serving life sentences in Arkansas. After touring two of the state prisons as a graduate student, Dr. Miller reached out to several inmates that had spoken to the tour groups and began to correspond regularly with the four of them. Friendships formed, and she, ultimately, asked them if she could publish their letters to her put together as individual narratives. They agreed and had final approval of their own narratives. These are in their words with a few short essays interspersed to provide context and background. The inmate narratives give first-person, humanized voices to people that are typically forgotten or, worse, demonized. These four men do not deny their guilt, nor do their crimes define them. They are intelligent, funny, and positive.